Lauren Grodstein and Patrick Rosal

Lauren Grodstein is the author of The New York Times-bestselling A Friend of the Family, The Washington Post Book of the Year The Explanation for Everything, and the forthcoming Our Short History, among other works. Her articles, essays, and reviews have been included in Post Road, The New York Times, Columbia, and other publications, and her work has been widely anthologized. She directs the MFA program at Rutgers University-Camden.

Patrick Rosal is the author of four full-length poetry collections. His most recent book is Brooklyn Antediluvian (2016). Boneshepherds (2011), was named a small press highlight by the National Book Critics Circle and a notable book by the Academy of American Poets. He is also the author of My American Kundiman (2006), and Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive(2003). His collections have been honored with the Association of Asian American Studies Book Award, Global Filipino Literary Award and the Asian American Writers Workshop Members’ Choice Award. In 2009, he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to the Philippines. His poems and essays have been published widely in journals and anthologies including The New York Times, Tin House, New England Review, Poetry, Grantland, The Breakbeat Poets Anthology, and The Best American Poetry.